graveyard shift
by lauren lachrymose
Summary: Love is a two player game, boy. And I can only see one person playing — SeiferHayner & Marluxia; contest entry.


**a/n; **This took me _forever_ to write. Seriously. (Loren, you'd better appreciate this! just kidding, you know I love you. :3) It wasn't supposed to be this long at the beginning, but it just sort of didn't stop growing until I speared it with a bendy straw. I tried SUPER hard to keep Seifer in character, and even harder to keep Marluxia believable. xD I had to make him good instead of evil, but retain his personality. How the _heck_ does that work? I don't know. Let's hope I did it anyway. & I couldn't help but add some Seifer/Hayner, because well, I LOVE THEM. :D Noelle, please don't kill me if I completely butchered everything that you love about Marluxia. THE PROMPT MADE ME DO IT, I SWEAR!

* * *

- x -

**graveyardSHIFT.**

- x -

"This really isn't fair."

For what seemed to be the hundredth time that night, Seifer grit his teeth and rolled his eyes, trying (and failing) to concentrate on the mundane task of wiping beer off of tables. Hell, he would have willingly wrestled with a hormonal grizzly bear right about now. _Anything _to keep him busy – and away from the pain-in-the-ass drunken fool who had inexplicably attached himself to one very disgruntled Seifer earlier in the evening.

"I mean, _really_. She just stood up and left – _left_! In the middle of our date! What kind of girl _does _a thing like that? Most chicks don't even bother with dinner – just 'hello there, handsome' and 'give it to me harder!' in the backseat of my van. This…" Here, the idiot paused to slump even further in his seat at the bar, "This has never happened to me before."

Seifer turned to look at the guy. Early twenties, red hair from a bottle, and two teardrop tattoos to match his worn leather jacket. All in all, he seemed like he'd be a regular around a place such as this one, but his face remained unfamiliar. The only vaguely recognizable thing about his appearance was the look on his face that told the annoyed employee that he was undeniably, unabashedly _drunk_.

"Marluxia!" Seifer called, tossing another roll of his eyes and pulling off his navy blue beanie, "You need to cut this guy off, okay?"

The bartender in question shot up from behind the counter, feral smirk in its signature place as he watched Seifer jump in alarm. "I already have. Do you see a drink in his hand?" Seifer had to admit that he didn't. "What _you _need to do is kick him out. It's just about closing time, and there's a pretty little bird I'd like to get home to."

Something in his words made the blonde man shudder, and he made a mental note to never do anything that would piss Marluxia off.

"Hey guys," yawned a tiny brunette girl with short cropped hair and even shorter shorts as she all but kicked down the sports bar's door. "Cloud and Leon have gone all dark and broody again, and there was no way in _hell_ I was gonna sit in that apartment and listen to another wailing Bright Eyes song."

The drunkard at the bar perked up noticeably at the sound of a female voice, but Seifer whacked him in the head with a damp rag before the eye-rape could begin. He let out an exaggerated groan at the young woman's effervescent smile and put both hands on his hips in the manliest way possible. "Oh, _come on_! We're almost closed, Yuffie! Give us a break. Personally, I'd love to go to bed sometime before five in the goddamn morning."

The girl named Yuffie bounced onto an empty stool, unperturbed by his obvious attempts to drive her away (or start a fight, whichever happened first). "If you wanted to have a regular sleep schedule, you sure picked the wrong place to work at."

"I _didn't_ choose to work here, remember?"

"Whatever," Yuffie shrugged, clearly closing the topic. "I just hoped this place'd be a bit more… lively."

"Lively?! Do you even _know _what time it is?"

Yuffie scoffed before starting to spin around on the barstool, "Who cares about the time? This _is _a bar, right? Geez, it's not my fault that this stupid town as no nightlife whatsoever."

"Oh, that's not true," the bartender grinned, his voice both as smooth and as dangerous as the drinks that he made. "_We _are still awake and willing, hmm? That would make us the creatures of the night. Vampires, if you will."

Yuffie stiffened visibly. "Vampires?"

There was the loud noise of wood on wood as Seifer turned a chair over onto one of the tables. He didn't even glance upward as he slung the dishrag onto his shoulder, restraining himself from rolling his eyes. "I think 'insomniac' is a better word for it, Mar. Don't go scaring the poor girl, all right? I mean, shit, she's not even a customer."

Marluxia only pulled his hair back into a short ponytail, the pale pink hue simply _screaming _for a new dye job. (At least, Seifer couldn't help but think so.)

"Y'know… I'd just kill for a strawberry daiquiri right now –"

"Don't even try it, Yuffie."

The young girl pouted, and then proceeded to slouch dramatically down in her seat. "You guys are about as fun as mopey-dopey Leon."

Seifer tossed her a sarcastic wink, "I try."

Suddenly, the petite brunette's pout turned into an outright _scowl_, her small nose wrinkling as her eyebrows furrowed. Behind him, Seifer could've sworn he heard Marluxia chuckle.

"What are you –?"

But he was never able to finish his question, as the answer came in the form of a converse-covered kick to the stomach, sending any air in his lungs whooshing out with an unattractive grunting noise.

Doubled over, Seifer wrapped his arms around his abdomen. "The hell was that, you _lamer_?!" he managed to spit out after a good twenty seconds of wheezing on the cold tile floor. "God, you're fuckin' in_sane_, you know that? Mar! Contain her, please!"

"There's no need for that," was the bartender's smooth reply, "for it seems that our self-titled ninja has already left the building."

Seifer groaned, partly because of the ache of the impact, and partly because he had just been crippled by a 100 pound girl. He was glad Hayner wasn't there, or he'd _never_ live it down.

"Would you like me to call an ambulance? Or can I just call your boyfriend to come to your aid?"

God, it was like he read minds or something.

"Shut the hell up, Marluxia."

The other man only smiled.

**&**

The next night, Seifer wanted nothing more than to _die._

Because just when the flood of college kids had reached its peak, he heard a faintly familiar and all together unwelcome voice over the din of foolish laughter.

"I freakin' _hate_ men!"

The source of this uncontrolled outburst belonged to a girl not quite of legal drinking age, her bright auburn hair matted with a mixture of sweat and rain, and blue eyes burning with a dangerous fire. "God, why are you guys always so damn _arrogant_? I mean, can't a man just want to go on a date that doesn't end in wild monkey sex?"

"Honestly?" Seifer considered this for a moment as she sat down. "No." He couldn't help but give a sadistic smirk as he watched her put her head in her well-manicured hands – he _was _Seifer, after all. "Why are you talking to me about this? Don't you have Olette or some other weepy chick friend of yours to go gab to?"

Kairi made a face. "As a matter of fact, no. Selphie is too inebriated to form functional thought, let alone string sentences together. Olette is spending the night at Roxas' for his twenty first birthday, and Yuffie is…" Here, she trailed off, her lips set into a tiny frown. "Well, I don't know where Yuffie is. The point," she sighed, "is that _you_ are the only person I can think of right now who can get me a free drink and let me ramble on about my problems."

Seifer didn't even have to try to feign disinterest, because he truly was disinterested. He idly glanced around the room while scratching at a scab on his forearm, wondering why the lonely people of the world seemed to come to him with their baggage in tow. "Who said I'm going to get you a free drink?"

Behind them, the entire bar cheered as a football player scored a touchdown on one of the various television screens mounted around the room. Kairi let out a desperate whine and let her forehead meet the marble of the countertop.

Seifer rolled his eyes, crossing his arms across his chest as he looked at the girl in front of him. Why _him_? The last time the two of them had spoken, Kairi had been trying to get Hayner to break up with him because their relationship 'wasn't healthy'. Um, right. Like _she _was the freaking relationship guru. Her last steady boyfriend broke it off by stating he was _gay_, for god's sake!

Sighing, the blonde reached into the back pocket of his jeans for his cell phone. "Look, I'll call Aerith to come pick you up, all right? Then the two of you can drive home and have a good cry over some cheesy romance flick. Hell, maybe Cloud will join you. Just get the fuck out of this bar and stop smothering me with your stupid issues."

Now, on any other day, this little spiel would have only been taken as typical Seifer – helping you out while simultaneously making you feel worse in the process. Normally, this would have only earned a middle finger and/or an aggravated sigh, but right then for Kairi, it was not any other day.

Underneath the counter, her hands curled into fists.

"You _asshole_," she nearly yelled, the venom in her voice evident even though muffled. "You are so insensitive!"

Her head sprang up from off the counter, and two nearby college students turned to watch in a sort of bored interest. Seifer flinched – he did _not _see this coming.

"I was right about you and Hayner!" She jabbed an accusatory finger in his direction, and Seifer opened his mouth to object, but was cut off. "You don't care about anyone but yourself, do you?! Is this how you treat him? _Is it?!_"

"No, you crazy bitch! Just calm down, okay –"

"_You're all the same!"_ she shrieked, her face flushing to a color almost as pink as the dress she was wearing. "All of you! You, Riku, Axel –"

Axel? Where had he heard that name before…?

"And I've had _enough _of your SHIT!"

By now, half the bar had stopped to observe the spectacle in mild fascination, especially since the only ones who'd usually yelled like this at least had a drink in hand. Seifer clenched his jaw, looking for Marluxia out of the corner of his eye. No such luck. "Kairi, will you _please_ just shut the hell up before I –"

"Before you _what_?! Exert some more of your idiotic male dominance?!" She was _livid_ at this point, her pretty face contorted with rage.

"_No_! Where the hell is this coming from anyway?"

"I've seen you two, _arguing _and _fighting_ like there's no tomorrow! Don't you love him at _all_, Seifer?!"

"Kairi, just _shut up_! God!"

"So you _don't _love Hayner?!"

"What the fuck does this have to do with me and Hayner?!"

"What's going on?"

Seifer froze. _Oh no. Oh _hell _no._

Hayner made his way through the throng of bodies, his sandy hair tousled and his brown eyes a mixture of hurt and confusion. _Don't tell me he heard that…_

Kairi bristled, but said nothing, instead grabbed her purse and all but ran out of the bar. Seifer began to panic, his anger dissolving in a matter of seconds as Hayner continued to blink up at him with that expression on his face.

"Nothing. She had no idea what she was saying, I promise."

Hayner's eyebrows inched into a scowl. "You sure? 'Cause she looked pretty sober to me."

But before Seifer could deny anything, the younger man looked away. "We'll talk about this later."

And with a swing of the large metal doors, Hayner was gone.

Beside him, Seifer heard a distinct growl of laughter. He glanced upward, only to find that same infuriating grin on Marluxia's face.

Standing up angrily, Seifer let out a short yell. God, he hated his job.

**&**

"You enjoy seeing me in large amounts of pain, don't you?"

It was a Tuesday night at the small-town bar, a time for the truly fucked-up and lonely to prowl the unsuspecting streets for a good place to douse their sorrows with cheap liquor and seventies rock-and-roll. At least on weekends people were actually having a good time.

The bartender looked up from the glass that he was absently drying with a dishtowel, utterly expressionless. "Perhaps. It is my firm belief that all humans are sadists at heart, and anyone who says otherwise is simply lying. Besides," he added, throwing the damp rag at Seifer, "you're particularly amusing at times like this."

Seifer dodged the dishtowel, letting it fly onto the spiky red head of a drunkard seated at a table behind him. "'Times like this' meaning whenever I'm _heartbroken_?" He couldn't help but wince at the word – something he had previously sworn never to admit to before he had fallen for Hayner – and took a long swallow of his beer.

Marluxia shrugged and folded his arms, leaning against the back shelf, his lips curving into a chilling sort of smile. "Not necessarily. I also find it entertaining when you're rather annoyed by an obnoxious dolt who's had one too many shots of tequila."

Seifer let out a low growl. "Yeah, well, at least I'm not a girly lamer who reads _Home & Garden_ magazine!"

That issued a soft chuckle from the pink-haired man, who stared at his co-worker with something like a challenge in his eyes. "Don't tease me about my hobbies; I don't tease _you _about being an asshole."

Seifer's grip on his beer bottle tightened. Touché.

Suddenly, the entrance doors sprang open, revealing a group of people that Seifer _really _didn't need to see right now.

"Hey, guys! What's crackin'?" Sora called, one hand forming a strange three-fingered salute, the other tangled with Riku's.

A lanky looking guy with a guitar case and dirty blonde hair smiled in greeting as he sat down, followed shortly by Olette, Roxas, Pence, and – oh _crap _– Kairi.

Roxas allowed Seifer a curt nod before grabbing Olette's arm and steering her into the opposite direction, while Pence only grinned sheepishly before setting his camera down next to him at the bar. Kairi, on the other hand, stood frozen in place by the doorway, her eyes widening as she stared at the annoying red-headed drunk with the dishtowel on his mane of hair.

"Axel?" she squeaked (at least, that's what Seifer _thought _she said, because the pitch of her voice was almost too high to be heard by humans).

The drunkard stirred, lifting his head slowly and turning around.

"Kairi?"

There was a distinctive clicking noise in Seifer's brain as it all fell into place. Oh, no. He was _not _going to get stuck in the middle of this. No _way_.

Standing up before you could say 'struggle', Seifer literally jumped over the counter and behind the safety of the bar, sitting on the floor so no one could see him. He nervously took a sip of his beer and scowled at Marluxia, who had just come in from the back room.

"Don't tell anyone I'm down here, all right?" he whispered to the bartender, rolling his eyes as he heard Riku shout, "_Be a man!"_ to someone Seifer assumed was the guy named Axel.

Marluxia smirked before crouching down next to him, a cell phone in his hand. "You left this on the middle shelf. Hayner happened to call while I was back there, and since I am nothing but a gentleman, I answered it for you."

Seifer nearly dropped the bottle. "What?" he asked breathlessly, "H-Hayner called? Why didn't you come _get _me, damnit? What'd he say?"

Marluxia tossed Seifer's cell phone aside as if it was a piece of trash, but Seifer was too nervous to make any sort of crude remark. Usually he would have stormed into Hayner's apartment without warning, shoved him against the wall, and kissed him senseless. But something about the look in Hayner's eyes as they had argued on the front steps of the apartment building told Seifer that this could very well be the end.

And he was scared out of his mind.

"Nothing," the bartender replied, wearing a bored expression as he ignored the frequent demands for alcohol that his 'friends' were making. He moved into a sitting position, his legs stretched out in front of him as he sat against the set of drawers. "He didn't say anything. He just called, I stated that you were away at the moment, and the little brat hung up on me."

Seifer let out a heavy sigh that seemed to rattle in his chest, sliding off his beanie and staring at it in his hands. "Paranoid jerk. I bet you a thousand dollars that he thinks we're sleeping together, which is why you answered instead of me. God!" the younger man banged his head back against the base of the counter, "Why is he so goddamn _stupid_?"

Marluxia stood slowly and didn't even dignify Seifer with any form of pity, verbal or otherwise. Instead, he pulled his lips into a disarming smile before saying, "Would you mind getting out from behind my bar? I have customers I need to attend to."

Grabbing his discarded cell phone, Seifer awkwardly pushed himself up off of the floor and hopped back over the counter. _Why _did he work here, again?

"_Ri­ku!_ I'm not a child; I can take care of myself!" Seifer looked over to see Sora with his back turned to a slightly bewildered Riku, who kept glancing over at Olette for support.

Olette, on the other hand, was currently in a deep debate with Roxas, and judging by the look on her face, it was getting a little personal.

"That was simply the way I was brought up, Roxas!"

"Yeah, well, it was apparently the _wrong_ way."

"What?! _What does _that _mean?!_"

"It means whatever you think it means, _dear_, since your way of thinking is just so freakin' high on the totem pole."

"You're not even making any sense right now."

"Not to _you_!"

Seifer wearily ran a hand over his face and took a seat next to Pence, who was going through the pictures on his digital camera.

At least he wasn't the only one with a steadily sinking love life.

He propped his elbows up onto the countertop and clasped his fingers together before letting his arms fall in front of him. "Hey, Mar… Give me another beer, would ya?"

**&**

When he had been in high school, Seifer had wanted nothing more than to get the hell _out_.

Now twenty-four and a little bit wiser, a little less arrogant, and a little more cynical, Seifer wished that he could rewind time back to when everything was simple. Back when the only things that mattered were who was dating who and which classes you were failing. Back when your parents paid for everything, and your definition of a job was the summer-long stint selling skateboards at the mall.

Back when you weren't old enough to drink, let alone work at a hellish bar in the middle of the same hellish town you had sworn to leave by the end of your senior year.

But Seifer had never been particularly good at quantum physics, and didn't think that he was going to invent the next time machine anytime soon. If time travel had anything to do with quantum physics, anyway.

Which it probably didn't.

Seifer shook his head rapidly in the hope that his utter exhaustion would be shaken off along with the random particles of dead skin cells or hair or what-the-fuck-ever. He hated it when he got introspective.

"Cloud and Leon are back together again!" Yuffie sang from her perch on top of one of the tables, the circles under her eyes indicating many a late night phone call trying to sort the whole mess out. "Isn't true love amazing?"

This is where Seifer snorted. True love. Right. Was that what true love was – an endless cycle of break ups and make ups? Wash, rinse, and repeat when necessary? He rested his chin on the back of the wooden chair that he was sitting on and released an angry sigh.

Yuffie noticed Seifer's bitterness, but chose not to comment on it. At least, not _directly._ "Olette and Roxas seem to have made up, too. Even Axel and Kairi looked lovey-dovey when I saw them this morning," she said, turning to look Seifer square in the eye. "Maybe things will work out with you and Hayner."

Seifer glanced up to give the self-titled ninja a blank 'you've got to be kidding me' expression. "You are so very naïve, Yuff."

But instead of her infamous kick-to-the-head that he had actually been hoping for, Yuffie rolled her eyes. "I'm not as naïve as you think," she growled, swung her bag over her shoulder, and left.

Thank God. The place was empty. "Mar, can I go _home _now?"

Marluxia pulled his hair out of its ponytail and began walking toward the young blonde man who was slowly fading before everyone's eyes. With a face carefully void of emotion, he gripped the back end of the chair in his hands, forcing Seifer to look up at him.

"According to what I have observed over my lifetime, boy, is that love takes hard work and patience. It isn't going to suddenly fix itself when it's broken, or strengthen itself when it's weak. Love is a two player game, Seifer. And I can only see one person playing."

With that, the older man turned on his heel and headed for the door, his car keys jingling as he walked. "Be sure to lock up before you leave."

And he was gone.

It was just Seifer left alone, with no company other than the echo of the bartender's words replaying itself in his head.

**&**

A little less than a week later, everything was back to normal.

"What do you _do _here, anyway?" Selphie called over George Michael's _Faith_ playing inexplicably in the background. "All I ever see you do is sit around and occasionally stand in for Marluxia at the bar. You don't even have a _real job_!" she giggled, and even from a respectable distance away, Seifer could smell the pungent odor of alcohol on her breath.

"Leave him alone, Selph." Kairi reprimanded, pulling her inebriated friend away from the counter and tossing Seifer an apologetic smile.

Suddenly, Seifer felt familiar arms wrap themselves around his waist and turned around to meet the infectious grin of Hayner, who quirked an eyebrow and glanced up at the ceiling. "George Michaels? Really? I mean, REO Speedwagon was bad enough…"

Seifer laughed, slinging an arm around his boyfriend's shoulders (which wasn't really that hard, since Hayner was a good head shorter than he was). "I blame Yuffie. She's going through this mainstream 80's phase right now. It was probably Tifa-induced."

Hayner smirked and started to tilt his head upward for a kiss. "Yeah, I bet you're right. Her new boyfriend – Demyx or something – no doubt helped. Have you _seen _what's on his iPod?" He made a face, "It's downright unholy."

"Speaking of unholy…" Seifer began, cupping the younger man's chin with his thumb and forefinger.

Hayner rolled his eyes, but didn't complain as Seifer leaned down to capture Hayner's lips with his own.

When they pulled away, Seifer thought he saw Marluxia smiling at them from behind the bar. But as his eyes adjusted, the bartender was busy serving drinks to a trio of women.

"What is it?" Hayner asked, turning in the direction that the blonde's gaze had fallen to.

Seifer gently shook his head. "Nothing. A trick of the light," he said. "Hey, want a drink? It's on the house."

And as Seifer felt Hayner's hand slip within his own, he thought that maybe, just _maybe_, this job didn't suck so badly after all.

_Crash_.

"Axel, you _bastard_!"

Okay, so maybe it did.


End file.
